This invention relates to an incinerator toilets employing features which facilitate their construction and repair and which also increase their lifetime and effectiveness.
In the past, incinerator chambers used in incinerating toilets have been constructed to incorporate a pellet type, heat activated catalyst between the inner and outer metal walls of the chamber. Usually, a portion of the inner and outer walls are perforated so that odors can be drawn through the walls and across the catalyst, thereby being rendered innocuous. Perforations in the walls, however, substantially reduce the strength of the walls to the effects of heating and cooling. To overcome this loss of strength, the walls are reinforced in various ways including the use of heavy straps spot welded about the girth of the inner wall. This construction technique increases the cost of the toilets.
The use of perforated walls also limits the method of fabrication of the incinerator chamber. For example, the walls must first be perforated while flat, and then rolled into a cylinder and welded, and finally assembled together with the use of annular top and bottom closure members to form a completed chamber, requiring many time consuming operations. Moreover, since the chamber is made up of a number of pieces welded together, small openings may exist through the many welded joints thereby allowing odor to penetrate the inner wall, traverse the annular space, and exit through the outer wall into the atmosphere, completely bypassing the catalyst.
These incinerator chambers also have other disadvantages in that their electric heating elements have been held in place by brackets bolted to the walls of the incinerator chamber. Replacement of the heater coil requires the entire toilet unit to be almost completely dismantled, which is undesirable, particularly, if replacement must be done in the field.
Other problems which have occurred is the fact that the inner and outer walls of the incinerator chamber expand and contract differently, resulting in a crushing effect on the catalyst located between the walls. The catalyst therefore becomes eroded and hence can become ineffective.